This invention relates to an electronic duplicator, in which data obtained by scanning the surface of an original for one line with a light beam are stored once in a line buffer memory and then read out therefrom for making duplication on a light-sensitive drum.
In commonly termed scanning type electronic duplicating apparatus, a light beam from a light source such as a laser is used to scan the surface of an original, and the reflected light from the original is introduced into a photoelectric cell for conversion into a corresponding electric signal which is in turn used to control a light beam modulator for on-off modulating a light beam, with the light beam thus modulated being projected onto a light-sensitive drum for duplication. These electronic duplicators include one, in which a single optical system is commonly used both for reading out data from an original and for reproducing the original on a light-sensitive drum from an electric signal containing the read-out data. With this construction, however, the read-out from the original and duplication on the light-sensitive drum cannot simultaneously be taken place.
Accordingly, it has been in practice to let data which are read out from the surface of an original by scanning the entirety thereof with an optical system be stored in a buffer memory and, after the completion of the read-out of the entire original, let the data having been stored in the buffer memory be used to control a light beam modulator for making duplication on a light-sensitive drum with the same optical system. However, this conventional system requires a buffer memory of an enormous capacity for memorizing all the data read out from the entire original, thus, making the electronic duplicator very expensive.